


Gaming The System

by Valentine20xx



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Human Kyuubi | Nine-tails | Kurama, Kyuubi | Nine-tails | Kurama & Uzumaki Naruto Friendship, Protective Kyuubi | Nine-tails | Kurama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 11:47:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20153077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valentine20xx/pseuds/Valentine20xx
Summary: In the Valley Of The End, Naruto discovered that he'd been screwed over.His life was a game, and apparently the path he was playing meant he wasn't ever going to get a happy ending...So, It's time for him to game the system, and get himself all the perks, all the rewards, and play that game called Life like a ninja!





	Gaming The System

Naruto’s last thoughts were mostly impolite, as his imperfect Rasengan went wide, Sasuke’s expertly made and aimed Chidori slicing through some very important parts of his anatomy.  
He wanted to curse Kakashi to the ends of the universe for teaching Sasuke, a massive flight risk, one of the most lethal skills in Konohagakure, He wanted to curse Jiraiya for the way he’d taught him the Rasengan, since it sucked...  
Oh yes, And he wanted to curse the entire Uchiha clan, over their superiority complex, and the fact they cheated their way to the top of everything.  
As Sasuke’s hand exited through his back, taking his spinal column and the remains of several important parts of his body with it, he knew that, thanks to a genius idea by his former teacher, Sasuke would likely end up joining Orochimaru, and nothing would be able to stop him.  
A few moments later, he blinked several times, hearing a cheesy melody play out as the world turned grayscale, then faded to black, Naruto finding himself, no longer with a huge hole right through his torso, stood in front of what equated to a sign floating in mid-air. Naruto looked at it.

_ **GAME OVER - ** _ **** _YOU HAVE DIED!_   
_ **Your Final Ninja Rank: Medium Grade Genin  
** _ _ **Your Equivalent Skill Level: Low Grade Chunin** _

_ **Your Unique Skill Set: Sexy Jutsu, Shadow Clones, Rasengan (Imperfect)  
** _ _ **Fellowship With The Kyuubi: Downright Hostility** _

_ **True Companions: None  
** _ _ **Team Dynamic: Fragmented, Poor** _

__ **Completion Rank:  
** _ **Graduation: Failed** _ __ **   
** __ **Wave Mission: Failed  
** _ **Chunin Exams 1: Completed** _ __ **   
** _ **Chunin Exams 2: Failed** _ __ **   
** __ **Chunin Exams 3: Failed  
Chunin Exams Overall: Failed  
Uchiha Retrieval: Incomplete  
** _ **Overall: POOR. ** _ ** _Facing down an Uchiha who has a lethal assassination technique as an opening gambit… Real smooth. Maybe next time you’ll go walk in front of a train. It’ll hurt less._ **

“Hey, What gives? How can I get ‘Poor’ for that? And why did it say all of those missions were ‘failed’? I did them, didn’t I?” Naruto snapped, “What did I do wrong?”  
“Your ‘graduation’ saw you take a fake secondary exam, which you pretty much failed on by the fact you allowed yourself to be taken in by Mizuki. So, you only got your forehead protector since someone felt pity on you,” A white-haired girl offered, “Wave Mission… Oh right, I know what went wrong there… Not telling though. Chunin Exams… In the second round, you allowed Sasuke to get bitten. Instant failure in protecting your team, and you didn’t pass the Exams, but you _did_ manage to get _one_ bonus objective done...”  
“So, Why would you think you have the right to critique… my life?” Naruto asked, for the girl’s form to twist and grow, until the Kyuubi was stood there  
“_**CARE TO ARGUE?**_" The Kyuubi thundered, Naruto able to notice traces of the girl’s voice in the booming delivery that haunted his attempts to meet with the demon fox.  
“Umm… Right...” Naruto stated, the nine-tailed fox vanishing back into the girl’s form, a fox tail and ears now visible. He didn’t know why he did it, but he reached up and scratched behind a twitching ear, recognising the signs of an itchy ear. He’d seen it far too often with Akamaru and similar.  
“Don’t… Oh god, Never mind, Do… So so do that...” The girl stated, Naruto reminded of Akamaru when he noticed Hinata doing the same thing, the girl just melting under his touch.  
“OK, Well, tell you what. You talk me through the rest of this sign, and I’ll give you all the head pats and ear rubs you’d want,” Naruto declared, stopping so she knew he was not going to allow another downpayment.  
“Well, You _could_ have got promoted, if the Hokage didn’t get killed, so there was no-one really to bat for you with the old fossils, so your ninja rank stayed pretty much as an acceptable level of Genin, I will add that you get a full Pass rank on the Chunin Exams for managing to stop all of Orochimaru's plans,” She began, “The next two, well, you reworked fox illusions into an actually fairly good technique, and almost no-one else is able to use Shadow Clones quite the same way without passing out...”  
“Almost?” Naruto asked.  
“Gramps and the ancient Usa-hime could, but… Well, they’re both meant to be dead, but they never found the body...” The kitsune girl offered, “The next one… Next time, two good ideas… Remember which ear you were scratching, and then… and I hate to say this, treat me like a really really big puppy...”  
“What about when you’re fun-size?” Naruto asked, slipping up behind her and scooping her into a snuggle.  
“...This can work… Nice… warm… cozy...” The kitsune girl offered, her eyes drooping slightly, before she snapped awake,“Ahem. True Companions… Well, Sakura and Sasuke are not your true companions. Right now, To you, they’re precious people, basically, but, real companions...”  
She then flashed a small flame over the place where it stated ‘None’, to put ‘Kurama’. Naruto then copied the gesture, and added one word, that got the snuggle to turn into a warm hug… ‘Uzumaki’  
“I’ll hold you to that, Oniichan… And that… That would get you an excellent grade with…” The Kyuubi mumbled, then she was asleep. Yes, This was what he wanted. Not some perpetually angry fox that wouldn’t give him the time of day. Instead, a cute little sister who he’d dote over for the rest of their lives. And he guessed what she was trying to say. She was a snuggle bug in the extreme.  
He was then surprised when the Fourth Hokage and a red-haired woman walked over, the girl’s hair changing from white to a slightly darker shade of the same hair as the woman.  
“We’re your parents…” The woman stated, “We wanted a lot from you, but no-one wants to help you… When everything starts again, I’d like you to make sure that your sister, my daughter, is one of the first things you put right...”  
Naruto slipped Kurama into the woman’s arms, the kitsune waking up and noticing her hair colour had changed. “If you’d told me that you had a human form, I’d have adopted you on the spot,” The woman stated, “For now, Naruto will be the only one who’ll remember this… But I have a lot of doting to catch up on...”

Naruto took his time to find out how to go back to his life. When he did, feeling a lot better about how his approach to Kurama would be. When you stripped the ‘giant engine of destruction’ aspect away, she was a great prankster, and both Kushina and Kurama had cured him of his interest in Sakura. He didn’t quite understand why they said for him to make in-roads with Tenten and Hinata, or what a CRA was.  
However, to get those days of fun meant he had to give the terrible demon, who would make pocky vendors quake in their boots, what she really wanted. He felt time wind back, and then did a technique which sent him into the seal. He'd learned so much about how this worked, and why it was a sewer...

The Kyuubi cracked open one eye, to notice Naruto had climbed through the cage. He could feel him shuffling down her back. He then alighted atop her head then sat down and...  
“Oh god! Oh god, that hits the spot!” The demon fox roared. That ear was so terribly itchy, and there was barely any space to move, and the brat was rubbing it, just where the itch was. Oh god, that was so damn good...  
She felt her form shrinking as she went all docile and relaxed, then he must have conjured up a blanket, letting her lean against him as he stroked his hands through her head fur. Yes, she liked this, but this was not part of protocol. The fact part of her wanted to say ‘damn protocol, I’m happy here!’ was why she only had one thing to ask.  
“Why?” She asked, sleepily.  
“You’re much better like this. Imoutosan...” Naruto offered tenderly.  
“I’m definitely more oneesan...” She replied, not focusing straight away on what she was saying, “Centuries ol...”  
It was like a record needle scratch as she actually figured out what he’d said, without a trace of irony and sarcasm…  
He’d not called her any of the long list of insults she’d got over the centuries since that damn rabbit's time, he’d called her his younger sister!  
Her eyes cracked open to find that there wasn’t a cage there. She could see, on the wall of the room she was in, the ofuda that indicated the seal, but this looked more like a young girl’s room, with Naruto sitting with her on the bed. She got up, going to the door, finding it opened easily, and the expected apartment, with a metal box with sticks of...  
Ahem. This was luxury compared to her cage. Usa-hime be damned, She would _**protect**_ Naruto. He'd not just given her something she'd not asked for, he'd given her _everything_ she wanted, without being asked or asking for something in response.  
“I wouldn’t go full tailed in here. It’s designed to work with your current state...” Naruto offered as he moved up behind her, “Now, Can you help me with something? I need you to help me with a prank...”  
OK, Now he was speaking her language. Pranks, oh yes, She could do pranks. You don’t get more than three tails without knowing pranks. And as he explained what he wanted to do, her grin got wider. She thought he was an idiot when he went after Sakura, but he’d actually remembered that damn incident with his scarf. Oh yes, she’d help.  
She’d help all she could.

When he went to the Academy, he felt so much better. Now he just needed to get the last part of his prank going, as he approached Hinata, making an illusion so no-one would notice, mentally thanking his newly minted sister for telling him how to do them without her chakra fouling them. He’d never outright declare them to be Fox Genjutsu, because that would cause questions.  
“Hinata, I need your help with something...” Naruto asked, Hinata looking puzzled as he made a clone, distracting her from the fact her clone was enjoying the sensation of being in the physical world as he made a second clone to sit in his own seat as they left, Hinata too confused to argue. When Iruka and Mizuki came in, they didn’t notice anything odd.  
Kurama was far too pleased with the idea her big brother had for her to do anything but her best in the exam, and even sent, mentally, tips on some of the questions to the clone Naruto had left. Best big brother ever! This was so much better than pranks like painting the Fourth's face!

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow as he noticed Hinata and a dark red haired girl he didn’t recognise going into one of the more high end clothing shops, before putting it away as he headed into the examination, looking to see, as far as he could tell, Hinata was there. However, As Naruto stepped forward to do his part of the exams, when he got to the clones, he asked one simple question.  
“OK, The requirement for this part of the exam is two clones doing a complex task without dispelling,” He asked, Iruka nodding. Hinata and Naruto then declared ‘KAI!’ and both vanished in a poof. The room was bedlam.  
Naruto hadn’t been in the exam room for several HOURS, and he’d switched Hinata Hyuga with a clone without anyone noticing?!  
“WHAT THE HELL?” Neji stated, “When did he do that?!? I've been watching Hinata all exam!”  
“Naruto is currently apparently taking Hinata out on a date...” Sarutobi offered, before stating, “I think we can agree he passes the practical test, with honors, due to the fact no-one even noticed him do the switch, and he completed one of the most complex tasks possible at his rank… He managed to do the Graduation Exam without actually being present to do the exam,”  
“He certainly did… His written exam grade is the best in the class. He aced the graduation exams without even being present!” Iruka stated as he checked over the results of Naruto’s exam, Mizuki looking quite annoyed. He couldn’t even approach the demon brat. He was not even in the room! And there was no way you could give a failing grade to someone who had done the substitution and clone jutsu parts of the exam and no-one in the room could see _when_!

Meanwhile, Naruto was sat with a surprisingly open Hinata in Ichiraku’s when everything slowed to a crawl, and a sign appeared in his vision.

__ **MISSION: GRADUATION  
** __ **Primary Goal: Complete Graduation Test: Success!  
** __ **BONUS OBJECTIVES:  
** __ **Graduate In The Top Half Of The Class: Success!  
** __ **Complete the Clone Jutsu test in an unexpected way: Success!  
ADDITIONAL MISSIONS:  
** __ **Make Hinata’s Day: Success! Unlocked True Companion: Hyuuga Hinata!  
** __ **Find A Sister In An Unexpected Place: Success! Unlocked True Companion: Uzumaki Kurama  
** _ **RESULT: GREAT SUCCESS! ** _ _ **Perk Unlocked: Choose Your Team, ** _ _ **Perk Unlocked: Fox Jutsu, ** _ __ **Perk Unlocked: Fox Summoning Questline  
** _ **LIFETIME GOALS ACHIEVED: ** _ __ **Fellowship With Kurama Uzumaki: Beloved Brother, Beloved Sister  
** _ **True Companions: Uzumaki Kurama, Hyuuga Hinata  
** _ _ **BONUS MISSION TIP UNLOCKED: I’M A BOY! ** _ __ **Kurama’s Special Tip: Sometimes you’re right the first time, even if someone claims otherwise.**

Naruto’s eyebrow raised at his sister’s tip, before raising higher when he noticed something. There was only one time he’d heard someone say _“I’m a boy”…_ Haku.  
“Sometimes you’re right the first time, even if someone...” Naruto mumbled, then he remembered…  
He’d seen Haku as a very cute girl. He’d seen her as that, but Haku _had_ claimed otherwise. The special tip vanished, to be replaced with one of the bonus objectives for Wave Country, ‘_Come back from Wave, accompanied by Haku. __Haku __**must**__ survive Wave__’_, Naruto realising now why he’d failed the ‘bonus objective’ of Wave. He’d allowed Haku to sacrifice herself for a pointless cause. He then realised what these bonus objectives were about.  
With the Graduation Exam, he'd always been the Dead Last. What he'd done was both graduate near the top of the class, if not the top of the class, and in a way that was unmistakably _Naruto_. With the Wave Mission, he'd lost someone he'd come to care about, and therefore, even if he completed the mission, he'd not been successful as a person.  
He’d gone through his original life losing precious people to various mistakes, so these missions were, effectively, to get through a part of his career with his precious people safeguarded, with him becoming precious to them in exchange, which was why, just completing the ‘tutorial’ this way, he now had Kurama and Hinata willing to be by his side through thick and thin.  
He’d not made the mistake of ignoring them or belittling them. Instead, he’d found what he’d been missing, and hadn’t just passed Graduation, he’d got several bonuses. The window then vanished, and he was back at Ichiraku’s, Sarutobi and Iruka approaching.  
“We will be letting Hinata’s grade stand, since we cannot confirm when you made a clone of her, so she could very well have done the exam herself...” Iruka stated, “Sasuke and Sakura are both calling you a cheat. I pointed out, if Naruto had done Hinata’s exam, he still scored higher than either of them, averaging out the two tests...”  
“We also discovered Mizuki was a plant for an enemy faction...” Sarutobi stated, “We found plans for him to trick you into going into an insecure area, where he would have handed you over to some waiting associates. Both Mizuki and said associates were disposed of. He was not pleased with the fact you literally pranked the entire examination room,”  
“I want you to do me a boon, Hokage-sama...” Naruto stated, doing a handsign for Kurama to appear, the kitsune girl vanishing some kind of portable device she was playing with, “She was the one who did Hinata’s exam for her,”  
“My name is Uzumaki Kurama, also known as...” She began.  
“The _true_ demon brat, Kyuubi-no-Yoko, The demon fox, The Nine-Tailed Demon Beast...” Naruto ticked off, finishing off, as she began to glare at him, “My imoutosan...”  
“OK, Since you did complete the standard graduation exam, and are the top kunoichi in the year, you will be teamed with Naruto...” Sarutobi stated, “And I think we should have the only kunoichi who apparently never did the exam be the third member… Fancy that, a perfectly formed team...”  
“I wish to suggest Team 7 be Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and… Kiba Inuzuka. Keep the jonin as they are...” Naruto offered, “I think it might sell better with the senseis...”  
Sarutobi frowned. Why was he...  
Oh yes, Kakashi was Team 7's projected jonin... And he would give his good eye to be Sasuke's sensei. So, He was getting Sasuke.


End file.
